The install guide says both the primary and secondary servers should have the same OS? Is this a recommendation or a requirement? My primary servers' OS is Windows 2008 R2 standard. Can I install Windows 2008 R2 enterprise or Windows 2012 on my secondary servers?

The secondary is ultimately configured from a cloned image of the primary. So, they will end up as the same OS anyway. To start off as well, the minimum requirement is for the 2 servers to have same OS versions, same drive letters, etc

Even if Windows 2012 is installed on my secondary server, once I clone the primary using VMware clone technology (OS is Windows 2008), and install that clone on my secondary, the secondary original OS will be overwritten by the clone and display as Windows 2008?

Operating system versions should match between primary and secondary servers. While it may be possible to get FoE working with differing Windows versions for the primary and secondary servers, it's neither recommended nor officially supported.

It would fail the pre-install checks. The OS needs to be the same level for FoE to implement as it has to "clone" the server in order to ensure all aspects are identical. It would not be a supported deployment to try and have a secondary server on a different OS than the primary.

The best way to use the V2V is to take a snapshot of the primary server prior to installing FoE, then using that snapshot as your secondary and install using the pre-clone options. This will ensure similar OS and system configuration for both virtual servers. I'd leave as little variation as possible between them.

I was trying to avoid upgrading my primary servers. I now know that isn't an option. Both primary and secondary servers will run Windows 2012.

My next step is to add vCPUs to my primary servers so they match my secondary servers. The primary servers are provisioned by our US team and my secondary servers are provisioned by my EMEA team. This is why the hardware is similar (2 CPU vs 4 CPU) but not an exact match. I'll wait for my primary server hardware upgrade before I clone it.

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